The latest in Bruin football, basketball and other sports

Main menu

Post navigation

Quotables: Houston coach Kevin Sumlin

I thought everyone might enjoy reading a few things from the Conference USA teleconference yesterday. Houston coach Kevin Sumlin talked about sixth-year senior quarterback Case Keenum and what he expects to see out of UCLA.

(Opening statement on how camp has gone so far.)
“It’s been hot. We’ve got a lot of things done. Things have gone pretty well. We’ve had one serious injury Phil Causey. We’ve had nicks and bruises but we’ve stayed relatively healthy which is always a plus. We’re just trying to get the best 22 on the field and it’s an ongoing process. With Case coming back, managing him during two-a-days has been fun. We’ve learned a lot about where we are on the perimeter. Our offensive line has been a question marks as far as experience but for ability and talent, we’ve more depth and size than we’ve ever had. We’ve got some new faces but more so on the offensive line than anywhere else.”
“It’s game week and we’re excited to hit somebody else instead of our own guys.”

(On what he expects to see out of UCLA.)
“UCLA has an extremely talented team. They’ve recruited very well in a great area. They’ve got tremendous tradition. They’re full of players who have bought in. They had some struggles last year with injuries last year that hurt them. They’ve got a big strong offensive line and a couple 260-pound tight ends. Embree and Rosario are 6’5″ and 6’3″ and they have arguably one of best running backs in country in Johnathan Frankin. They’re going to be talented and defensively it’s the same deal. They’re going to have a hieght advantage. They’ve been to Texas and they know how to play in the heat. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

(On Case Keenum’s health.)
“I don’t know that you ever get completely back to where you were in less than a year. I’ve said many times that he has stuck to a rigid schedule. He went through rehab in the summer and into two-a-days. With the 25 practices that we’ve had, we’ve only held him out of two or three. He didn’t want to be held out so from that standpoint, that’s the kind of guy you’re dealing with. He’s got the majority of reps the first couple weeks and this week, we’ll get it to how we do it on game week with our backup qb situation. We’re still training both of those guys too. I’ve been pleased with how he’s progressed this camp and I think he has too. It’s a matter of where he is mentally. Physically, we can’t say he’s completely back to where he was. I think he’s there mentally and I I like where he is and how he’s throwing it around. He feels good about it and so do we.”

(On what he expects to see out of UCLA schematically.)
“They’ve got new coordinators and new coaches on both sides of the ball. We’ve watched a bunch of different video defensively from the new coordinator at different schools. Offensively, you’ve got the traditional spread offense that Mike has been used to and we’ve watched a bunch of Nevada video too from some coaches that we’ve hired. We don’t know a lot but what we have assumed is that they’re not going to abandon the pistol attack too much. They’ve got quarterbacks who have been in that system, they’ve got a great running back, they’ve got a big, strong offensive line and tight ends. They’ll probably add a little more spread to it but look for the same pistol attack that we had problems with last year. They had success running it right down our throats and I don’t know why that would change a whole lot coming into this year.”

Meta

Comments policy

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@langnews.com.